Girls - season 1 (2012) - Dunham arrives with refreshing, idiosyncratic NY youth howler

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Characters Jessa, Marnie, Hannah and Shoshanna lounged closely together on a couch on this poster for Lena Dunham's Girls - season 1

 

Girls - season 1 is created by Lena Dunham (Creative Nonfiction (2009)), who also plays protagonist Hannah and directed 5 of the 10 episodes. It is based on her own experiences as a young woman creative working in New York. The following contains SPOILERS.

 

Hannah Horvath, an aspiring twentysomething writer from Michigan, living in New York two years after graduating from college, gets a bomb dropped in her life in the first episode, which also introduces us to her three closest friends, Jessa (Jemima Kirke (The Little Hours (2017)), Marnie (Allison Williams (Get Out (2017)) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet (Goldbricks in Bloom (2016)) and her fuck buddy Adam (Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman (2018))): Her parents have decided to cut her financial umbilical cord, prompting Hannah to quit her unpaid apprenticeship.

Hannah attempts to restart the steady financial, parental support in a visit to them (episode 6: The Return), but she ultimately cannot get herself to ask for it and instead has a random sexual encounter in the very sweet episode, which also has her parents (Peter Scolari (Dean (2016)) and Becky Ann Baker (Gotham (2015, TV-series))) in a sexual accident!

The various couples, affairs and complications, especially in relation to Hannah, make up the bulk of the show. As the season ends, Marnie moves in with Shoshanna, who finally has her virginity taken by musician/café manager Ray (Alex Karpovsky (Being Frank (2018)). Jessa surprises everyone by marrying her recent, well-off lay (Chris O'Dowd (The Double (2013))), and every one 'randomly' meet at the ceremony, letting Hannah 'run into' her former boyfriend Elijah (Andrew Rannells (Bachelorette (2012))), who is now gay, and the two decide to move in together. Marnie hooks up with the cute best man, and Adam is out of it and gets run down in the dramatic night that follows.

Though there are continuity issues (in episode 8: Weirdos Need Girlfriends Too) and some conspicuous use of chance (in episode 10: She Did), Girls - season 1 is a refreshing and very funny new companion with an original sense of realism and diversity in its body images, which Dunham herself leads, unafraid to look like a heavy-set pear in an ugly sweater. There are several terrific performances, and especially Dunham, Driver and Williams are killer actors in Girls.

 

Best episodes:

 

Episode 2: Vagina Panic - written by Dunham, Lesley Arfin (Awkward. (2013, TV-series)), Sarah Heyward (SKAM Austin (2018, TV-series)); directed by Dunham

Hannah has more awkward sex with Adam, and so do Marnie and Charlie (cute Christopher Abbott (Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2010, TV-series))). Jessa fails to show up for her own scheduled abortion, while Hannah gets tested for STDs (due to Adam's perceived frivolity), and Shoshanna admits that she is a virgin. Really funny and fresh episode.

 

Episode 4: Hannah's Diary - written by Dunham; directed by Richard Shepard (The Perfection (2018))

Jessa briefly loses the children she is babysitting in the park. Shoshanna fails to have sex (for her first time) with an old flame. Hannah has started in a secretary job, tries to get used to her new 'handsy' boss and receives a dick pic from Adam. Marnie's boyfriend Charlie and his musician friend Ray conduct a song about what they read in Hannah's diary, which is critical to her friends, predictably causing strife. Really sharp episode; Dunham is fearless and outstanding with painted eyebrows here. 

Episode 9: Leave Me Alone - written by Dunham, Bruce Eric Kaplan (Seinfeld (1997-98)), Deborah Schoeneman (90210 (2010, TV-series)); directed by Shepard

Hannah struggles with her identity as she fails to sparkle at a reading of her creative material. Jessa gets motherly advice from a terrific Kathryn Hahn (Kroll Show (2013-15)) as the crisis-hit mother she is babysitting for. Hannah's financial mess has been covered by Marnie so far, but it now drives them to a conflict that concludes with Marnie deciding to move out of their shared apartment.

Dunham talks about season 1 for 39 minutes in this video

Cost: Unknown

Box office: None - TV-series

= Uncertain

[Girls - season 1 premiered 12 March (South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin, broadcast first on HBO from April 15 - June 17) and runs 10 episodes averaging 28 minutes, totaling approximately 280 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The season had ratings from 678k to 1.09 mil. viewers in North America. The cast returned in season 2 in 2013. The season won 2 Golden Globes and 1/5 Primetime Emmy nominations. Dunham also wrote Nobody Walks (2012) around the time of season 1 and had parts in Supporting Characters (2012) and This Is 40 (2012). Kirke did not get more credits before season 2; Mamet acted in Sunset Stories (2012), Mad Men (2010-12)) and Rhymes with Banana (2012); Williams in Jake and Amir (2011-12, TV-series short). Girls - season 1 is certified fresh at 94 % with an 8.35/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Girls - season 1?

The Matador (2005) or, Male Bonding & Murder

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Bright colors and the joke-implying tagline ('A hitman and a salesman walk into a bar...') indicate breezy action-comedy entertainment on this poster for Richard Shepard's The Matador

A stressed out assassin strike up an unexpected friendship on a job in Mexico. Although the two have little in common, a special masculine bond develops between them, and they commit the assassination together.

The Matador is written and directed by Richard Shepard (The Linguini Incident (1991)), based on some quirky ideas and possibly to some degree inspired by gangster TV-series masterpiece The Sopranos (1999-07), - a killer with panic attacks is also to be found here, in any case.
It entertains well, without ever knocking anyone's socks off, and is basically kept afloat by its to lead actors: Greg Kinnear (The Gift (2000)) and especially Pierce Brosnan (The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)) as assassin bastard with issues, Julian Noble. The Matador has more than a few good laughs.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 12.5 mil. $
Box office: 17.3 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.38 times its cost)
[The Matador premiered in January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place in Mexico City, Mexico from April - May 2004. The bull fights were created with CGI. Hope Davis (Wild Card (2015)) was pregnant during filming. Brosnan's character's sombrero was later sold at an auction for 22k $. The film opened #38 to a 69k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #10 and in 905 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 12.5 mil. $ (72.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.5 mil. $ (8.7 %) and Spain with 0.4 mil. $ (2.3 %). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Shepard returned with Ugly Betty (2006, TV-series) and theatrically with The Hunting Party (2007). Brosnan returned in Seraphim Falls (2006); Kinnear with a voice performance in Robots (2005) and physically in Bad News Bears (2005); and Davis in Duma (2005). The Matador is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.68/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Matador?